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Tricholoma subaureum

[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Tricholomataceae > Tricholoma . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

I suspect that Tricholoma subaureum is more common than official records, of which there are only a handful, would suggest. It is a dry, brown-capped Tricholoma associated with Midwestern and eastern North American hardwoods, featuring a strongly mealy odor and gills that develop slightly yellowish hues. In short, it's a boring brown tricholoma, probably neglected in the field as an LBM (little brown mushroom) and misidentified in herbaria as "Tricholoma sejunctum" and all kinds of other things. The species was first named in 1986 by Clark Ovrebo, based on collections from Michigan and Ontario. It has since been identified in North Carolina and, here, from Illinois.

Since photos of Tricholoma subaureum have been unavailable to the "general mushroom public" until now, perhaps collectors can begin to document the range of the species. If you have a collection that appears to match, please document and preserve it (see this page for fairly easy instructions), and drop me a line; I would love to study the collection!

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods, including oaks and American beech; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; late summer and fall; possibly widespread east of the Great Plains (see discussion above). The illustrated and described collection is from Illinois.

Cap: 4–6 cm across; at first convex with a central bump, becoming broadly convex to broadly bell-shaped; dry; radially appressed-fibrillose; medium brown to yellow-brown centrally and light brown toward the margin.

Gills: Attached to the stem by a notch; close or nearly distant; short-gills frequent; creamy whitish to very pale yellowish.

Stem: 4–6 cm long; 1–2 cm thick; more or less equal above a tapered base; bald; dry; whitish; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: White; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Mealy.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5–8 x 4.5–6 µm; ellipsoid, with a small apiculus; smooth; hyaline and often uniguttulate in KOH; inamyloid. Lamellar trama parallel. Basidia 4-sterigmate; 20–30 x 5–7.5 µm; clavate. Pleurocystidia not found. Cheilocystidia 30–50 x 5–25 µm; ranging from cylindric and thin-walled, with a rounded or subclavate apex—to sphaeropedunculate, thicker-walled; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Pileipellis a cutis; elements 7.5–15 µm wide, smooth, hyaline to brownish in KOH. Clamp connections not found.


REFERENCES: C. L. Ovrebo, 1986. (Bessette et al., 2013.) Herb. Kuo 10201805.


This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms.


 

Tricholoma subaureum

Tricholoma subaureum

Tricholoma subaureum

Tricholoma subaureum

Tricholoma subaureum
Spore print

Tricholoma subaureum
Spores

Tricholoma subaureum
Cheilocystidia

Tricholoma subaureum
Cheilocystidium

Tricholoma subaureum
Pileipellis elements



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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2019, September). Tricholoma subaureum. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/tricholoma_subaureum.html